Side discharge hopper



sept. 2z, 1970 c. EMARAIS 3,529,734

SIDE DISCHARGE HOPPER Sept. 22, 1970 F.` MARAIS SIDE DISCHARGE HOPPER Filed Oct. 25. 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent O U.S. Cl. 214--62 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The invention is for a side discharge hopper car having a container composed of a wall forming structure and a bottom and which are connected by hinge means along one side of the container. The bottom is pivotally mounted about an axis parallel spaced from the hinge axis on a support frame which also provides support means for retaining the bottom in a load carrying position and to limit the extent of downward swing of the wall forming structure. On the container devices are provided for engagement by lift means to cause simultaneous tilting of the bottom and lifting of the wall structure for load discharge from one side of the hopper car.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Side discharge hoppers are known to have tilting bottoms but these do not provide a wall forming structure incorporating all the walls as a single rigid unit which is hinge'dly attached to the tiltable bottom. Such hoppers are disclosed in U.S. patent specifications 1,128,572, 1,812,539, and 3,099,229. U.S. specification 1,843,885 does disclose a wall forming structure unit in combination with a pair of bottom sections lwhich are however not pivotally attached to a support frame but slidable thereon while the Wall structure unit is vertically lifted and carries the meeting sides of the bottom sections with it for said section to be upwardly convergingly disposed for load discharge. It is an object of this invention to provide a side discharge hopper of simple and in` expensive construction.

This invention relates to an improved side discharge hopper and more particularly to a side discharge hopper car.

According to the invention a side discharge hopper is provided which includes a support frame, a container consisting of a rigid wall forming structure and a bottom connected by one edge to a horizontal bottom edge of one of the walls of the wall forming structure by hinge means, a pivot support on the support frame for an intermediate region of the bottom and parallel to the hinge connection of the wall forming structure and the bottom, rigid support and locating means on the support frame for the bottom when in a load carrying position, rigid members on the support frame outwardly of a pair of opposed sides of the container at right angles to the axes of the hinge connection and pivot support and providing formations for engagement by rigid projections on the wall forming structure extending outwardly substantially parallel to the said axes, a member on the wall forming structure opposite to the hinged side for engagement by lifting gear, and at least one formation substantially at the hinged side of the wall forming structure and engageable by a device adapted to cause lifting of said hinged side and tilting of the bottom to a substantially steeply inclined position simultaneously with the lifting of the unhinged side of the structure to form a discharge opening at the unhinged side.

The bottom is biassed onto the support and locating 3,529,734 Patented Sept. 22, 1970 ICC means of the support frame whereas the wall structure is biassed with its unhinged bottom edges onto marginal regions of the bottom. The bottom is preferably provided with upwardly directed formations on the sides adjacent the side to which the wall structure is attached, and outwardly of the wall structure to protect the structure against distortion while in addition the bottom is thereby presented with a chute-like formation preventing discharge of material in the direction of the hinge and pivot axes.

The support and locating means for the bottom is adapted to maintain the bottom normally in a sloping or a horizontal load carrying position. The inclination of the bottom is increased or the bottom is tilted to a steep inclined discharging position which takes place on raising of the wall structure simultaneously on upward swinging of the hinged side of the bottom.

The container is preferably of substantially rectangular shape. In the normal or load carrying position the center line of the container, parallel to the hinge and pivot axes, is disposed substantially vertically above the center line of the support frame.

The rigid members on the support frame, outwardly of the sides of the container at right angles to hinge and pivot axes, provide upwardly protruding lip-like formations behind which the outwardly extending projections on the wall structure are engageable when the said structure approaches and is in the normal load carrying position on the bottom. Said members comprise upright plate-like parts ixed transversely across end portions of the support frame.

In a form of the invention, as applied to a side discharge rail car, the support frame forms a chassis carried on pairs of rail wheels and having the pivot support means for the bottom parallel with the longitudinal axis of the chassis. The free edge of the bottom, over which discharge takes place, is disposed outwardly of the wheels on the discharge side of the chassis.

The biassed lowering of the wall structure and the swinging of the bottom to the normal load carrying position is gravitational and is onto the bottom support and locating means and the said rigid members on the support frame.

For automatic discharge of a side discharge rail car the walled structure is provided on its load discharging position with a roller for engaging an upwardly converging stationary track at the discharge station for elevation of the wall structure. On the hinged portion of the bottom a roller may be provided for engaging a second upwardly converging track whereby tilting of the bottom is effected simultaneously with the elevation of the wall structure for load discharging.

According to a modified form of the invention, an additional rigid projection is provided on each of a pair of opposed walls of the wall structure and is arranged to engage in a steeply inclined slot provided in a member of the frame structure so that on raising of the free side of the wall forming part the opposite hinged side is also forced to move upwardly and, due to the hinged attachment to the bottom, causes the hinged edge of the bottom to be raised. The bottom is thus forced to tilt to an inclined or to a steeper inclined load discharging position. Such applied force for tilting of the bottom to the discharging position is particularly advantageous in the event of the body being eccentrically loaded 'with the weight concentrated on the bottom towards the hinged side thereof. The lifting gear may comprise an air cylinder arrangement having a hook on the bottom end of a rod for engaging onto a fixed bar or the like on the exteior `wall face of the free side of the wall structure.

According to a further modified form an abutment formation is provided on the hinged side of the wall structure for engagement by an upwardly moving lift device which is interconnected with lift gear engageable on a protruding member on the outwardly directed wall face on the free side of the wall structure. The movement applied to the free side of the wall structure is preferably greater or commences sooner than the upward movement on the hinged side.

To limit the extent of upward hinging of the wall structure relative to the bottom an arcuate slot, centered on the hinge axis of the said part and the bottom, may be provided in each upwardly extending formation of the bottom and each slot is engaged by a fixed pin, or a roller on a fixed pin, extending in axial directions from opposed walls of the wall structure. Said pins or rollers, in the normal load carrying position of the body, are adapted to engage onto the rigid members provided on the support frame outwardly of the structure and behing the lip-like formations.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood and carried into effect, reference will now be made to the accompanying sheets of drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an end elevation of a side discharge hopper car constructed according to the invention, shown in the load carrying position;

FIG. 2 is an elevation of FIG. 1 in the direction of arrow II;

FIG. 3 is a transverse cross-section of the hopper car shown in FIGS. l and 2, shown in the load discharging position;

FIG. 4 is a side elevation of track means for automatically causing discharge of the hopper car shown in FIGS. 1, 2` and 3;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary plan of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is an end elevation of a modified side discharge hopper car constructed according to the invention, shown in the load carrying position;

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6 showing the hopper car in the load discharging position;

FIG. 8 is an end elevation of a hopper car in closed position and showing modified lifting gear for opening of the hopper car body for load discharge; and

FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 8 showing the hopper car in the load discharging position.

Referring to the drawings the side discharge hopper car according to the invention comprises an elongated chassis 10 carried on pairs of flanged rail wheels 12 and mounting transverse cantilever cradle forming supports 14 for a tiltable bottom 16 of a load carrying container. Such supports 14 extend from one side of a central I- section joist 17 which forms the longitudinal member of the chassis 10'. Said transverse supports 14 present sloping upper edges on which upwardly convergent members, in the form of an angle iron 18, are rigidly iixed. On the ends of the chassis 10 transverse upright plate members 20 are rigidly secured which in turn are connected to the outer ends of the adjacent transverse support 14- by upwardly convergingly arranged angle irons 22.

On one side of the longitudinal member 17 of the chassis 10` a shaft 24 is rigidly supported on gussets 26. Said shaft 24 is arranged parallel to the longitudinal center line of the chassis 10.

The chassis 10 supports a container 28 which is of rectangular shape in plan view and is composed of the bottom 16 and a rigid wall structure 30. The structure is suitably reinforced along the inside of the upper edge by angle irons 32 and intermediately by exteriorly disposed circumferential angle irons 34.

The bottom 16 comprises a larger substantially flat rigid plate 37 and a smaller longitudinal portion 36 arranged at an angle relative to one another. The free longitudinal edge region of bottom portion 36 is secured by a hinge 38 to the lower edge of wall 40 of the wall structure 30I while the portion 37 of the bottom 16 is provided with journals on the underface and engage on the shaft y24. The axis of the hinge 38 is arranged parallel to the axis of the shaft 24. Shaft 24 forms the pivot for the bottom 16. Transversely across the underface of the bottom portion 37 pairs of angle irons 42 are secured to form a convergent groove between them for engaging over the angle irons 18 and which form locating supports for the bottom 16 on the chassis 10 when the bottom is in the normal load carrying position. Also on the portion 37 of the bottom 16 longitudinally arranged pairs of angle irons 44 are secured for nestingly engaging over the angle irons 22 for location of the bottom 16 on the chassis and restraining transverse relative movement when the bottom is in the load carrying position.

The members 20, on the ends of the chassis 10 provide on the ends, opposite toy the ends to which the angle irons 22 are attached, upwardly protruding lips 46 behind which longitudinally arranged stub-axle-like protrusions 48 on end walls of the wall structure 30` are engageable when said structure is in its load carrying position. With such engagement relative downward tilting movement of the wall structure at the discharge side is prevented.

Exteriorly on the wall 49 of the wall structure 30 a roller 50 is mounted by means of brackets 52. On the exterior face of the smaller portion 36 of the bottom 16 a cantilever-like bracket 54 is rigidly attached which mounts on its free end a roller 56. Said rollers 56 and 50 are adapted toengage upwardly convergingly arranged rigid tracks 58 and 60- respectively at discharge station and whereby the raising of the wall structure 30 and tilting of the bottom 16 are simultaneously effected against gravitational biassing. The tilting of the bottom 16 increases the inclination of the bottom while raising of the wall structure 30 causes separaton of the free bottom edges of the walls of the structure 30 olf the bottom 16. The container is thus opened for gravitational discharge of the contents.

`On the transverse ends of the bottom 16 upwardly projecting perpendicular walls 62 are provided which are adapted to be disposed exteriorly of the end walls of the walled structure 30 with clearance for bottom regions of wall structure to be guided and protected against damage. The said walls 62 present to the bottom a chute shape whereby discharge of the material across the transverse edges of the bottom 16 is prevented.

When the said tracks 58, are provided, discharge of the hopper car may take place while the car is in motion. The said tracks 58, 60 are stationarily mounted and provide upwardly converging ramps connected by central horizontal portions 64. The length of the horizontal elevated portions 64 may vary in accordance with requirements, such as rate at which the load is gravitationally discharged from the container. The track 58 on the discharge side extends upwardly to a slightly smaller extent than the track 60 on the hinged side of the hopper car to thereby provide an increased extent of opening of the free bottom edges of the wall structure olf the bottom.

Said tracks 58 and 60 may be mounted on vertical posts. The posts on the hinged side of the car may provide mountings for a straight horizontal rail below which a xed lip-like projection or rollers, provided on the car chassis 10, may engage to prevent tipping of the chassis during discharging actions. The track 58 must be outwardly convergent, see FIG. 5 to accommodate the transverse movement of the roller 56 during the lifting and transverse movement of the wall structure when raised for opening of the container. The track 60 should also converge outwardly to accommodate for the lateral movement to which roller 56 is subjected. The said tracks 58 and 60 are disposed on opposite sides of the rails 66 on which the wheels 12 of the hopper car are run.

Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7 of the drawings, the side discharge hopper car comprises an elongated chassis 10 carried on pairs of anged rail wheels 12. The elongated chassis is substantially similar to that as is shown and described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3. The container 10, comprising the pivoted bottom 16 and the hingedly attached wall structure 30, is also substantially as shown and described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3.

The axially aligned stub axle-like protrusions on the end walls of the wall structure are each provided with a roller 68 for engaging arcuate slots 70 provided in the extended perpendicular walls 62.1 of bottom 16 and whereby the extent of upward swinging of the wall structure 30, relative to the bottom 16, is limited. The rollers 68 are adapted to engage behind the lips 46 on the upright plate members 20 of the chassis 10 to limit the extent of downward movement of the structure when it is in engagement on the bottom part 16.

In order to ensure downward tilting of the free edge of the bottom part 16 for load discharge on raising the wall structure 30, the end walls of the structure are provided with further outwardly extending aligned axially directed pins 72, each preferably having a roller, which are adapted to engage in steeply inclined slots 74 provided in the extensions 76 of members 20 of the chassis 10. The rollers of the pins 72 are in rolling engagement with the sides of the slots 74 so that, when the free side of the wall structure 30 is raised the hinged side of the wall structure is forced to move upwards whereby the bottom 16 is forced to tilt to a steeper angle, as is shown in FIG. 7. This is particularly required when the bottom is eccentrically loaded.

The lifting of the wall structure 30 is effected by an air or hydraulic cylinder unit disposed at a steeply inclined position and having on the bottom end of a retractable and extendible rod 77 a hook 78. Said hook 78 is adapted to engage on a pipe, bar or the like 80 which is fixed horizontally by brackets 82 to the lower exterior portion of the side wall 49. To facilitate the engagement Aof the hook 78 onto the pipe, bar or the like 80 a sloping formation 84 is provided. Such formation 84 also facilitates the disengagement of the hook 78 on downward movement of the latter. The said pin 72 and slot 74 arrangement, and the steeply sloping position of the lifting cylinder arrangement, substantially counters tilting of the chassis 10, particularly during the initial discharging stage.

Referring to FIGS. 8 and 9 of the drawings the part 37 of the bottom 16 is shown horizontally disposed when in the load carrying position but may be arranged to be in a sloping load carrying position if particularly desired. In this form of the invention the wall structure 30 and the upright plate members 20 of the chassis 10 are void of the pin and slot arrangements 72, 74 while on both the longitudinal walls 49 and 40 of the wall structure 30 horizontal elongated body part lifting rods, bars or pipes 80 and 80.1 are provided. Said rods, bars or pipes 80, 80.1 extend along a substantial portion of the intermediate regions of the longitudinal walls 49 and 40 respectively.

The lift gear comprises an air, hydraulic or such other like ram having a slopingly disposed, and preferably pivotally mounted, elongated extendible member 86 adapted to engage onto the rod, bar or pipe 80.1 while attached to such member 86 is a flexible element, such as a chain, cable or the like 88, which is passed over guide pulleys 90, 92 and 94 while `on the free end a hook 96 is provided. The hook 96 is engageable on the bar or pipe 80 on the free longitudinal side 49 of the wall structure 30 so that on extension of the member 86 the free side of the wall structure is firstly raised to a predetermined amount and when the member 86 engages the bar or pipe 80.1 the hinge side of the structure 30 is also raised. On raising the hinged side the hinged connection 22 is also raised whereby the bottom part 22 is tilted to its discharging position, as is shown in FIG. 9.

The said means to provide for forced raising of the hinged side of the wall structure 30' ensures that, particu larly in the event of eccentric loading of the bottom 16 or frictional restraining of the hinge 22, the bottom is tilted to a sloping position for discharge of the load.

With the arrangement shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 the hook 96 is manually engaged on the rod or bar 80 but the disengagement may take place automatically when the hook has been lowered to an extent below the rod or bar 80. Mechanical, air or hydraulically operated means may be employed for engaging the hook 96 on the rod or bar 80.

Other hydraulically, electrically or mechanically operated and automatically or manually actuated means may be provided to cause the opening and sideward discharge of the load when the rail car is either stationary or in motion at a discharge station.

Although the invention is primarily intended for a side discharge hopper the features of the invention may be applied to form a centre discharge hopper in which case two walled structures are provided adjacent one another which are void of Walls on the meeting sides and each being pivotally attached to a pivotally mounted bottom by the relative opposite sides while the free ends of the bottoms are adapted to engage one another in the load carrying positions. On tilting the bottoms to increased inclinations the meeting edges of the bottoms separate while the wall structures are raised. The end walls of the one walled structure are movable into the coacting wall structure. All the hinge and pivoting axes of the walled structures and bottoms are disposed parallel with one another. On application of this modified form of the invention fixed cam track engaging rollers or lift gear connecting parts are provided on the bottoms adjacent the hinge sides or on the hinged walls. With this modied form the pivot and hinge axes may be disposed transversely to the direction of movement of the chassis, when the invention is applied to a rail car.

I claim:

1. A side discharge hopper which includes a support frame, a rectangular container having a rigid wall forming structure and a bottom hingedly connected by one side to a horizontal bottom edge of one side wall of the wall forming structure, a mounting on the support frame for pivotal support of the bottom at a position spaced from and on a horizontal axis parallel to opposite hinged and free discharge sides of the bottom, rigid support and locating means on one side of the support frame to retain the bottom in a sloping load carrying position, rigid members on the support frame outwards of opposed ends of the container and at right angles to the axes of the hinge connection and the pivot support, rigid projections on the wall forming structure extending outwardly substantially parallel to said axes for supporting engagement on the rigid members of the support frame when the container is in the load carrying position, a lifting gear engaging member on the discharge side of the wall forming structure, and means at the hinged side of the container arranged to impart lifting and inward movement of the said hinged side of the container and tilting of the bottom to a substantially steeply inclined discharging position simultaneously on application of a lifting force by the lifting gear on the discharge side of the wall forming structure to relieve the support frame of tilting forces.

2. The side discharge hopper claimed in claim 1 in which the rigid members on the support frame provide upwardly projecting lip-like protrusions towards the discharge side of the container and behind which the rigid projections of the wall forming structure are engageable.

3. The side discharge hopper as claimed in claim 1 in which a small marginal portion of the bottom at the hinged side is disposed at an angle relative to a larger portion of the upper face of the bottom whereas end walls of the wall forming structure adjacent the hinged side are of substantially complementary shape for engaging onto the bottom and inwardly of upwardly protruding wall forming portions on the ends of the bottom.

4. The side discharge hopper as claimed in claim 1 in which the support frame comprises a wheeled chassis whereas the lifting gear engaging member and the means to cause lifting and inward movement of the hinged side of the container comprise rollers on the discharge side of the wall forming structure and on the hinged side of the bottom whereas the lifting gear comprises stationary upwardly converging ramp-tracks at a discharge station between which the hopper is moved and which ramptracks are engaged by the rollers.

5. The side discharge hopper as claimed in claim 1 in which the support frame comprises a wheeled chassis and the means for imparting lifting and inward movement of the hinged side of the container and steep tilting of the bottom steeply inclined slots in rigid upwardly protruding parts of the chassis and protrusions on end walls of the wall forming structure movably engaging the slots whereby the hinged side of the container is guided to move in substantially the same direction as the unhinged side of the wall forming structure on raising and lowering of the latter by the lifting gear.

6. The side discharge hopper as claimed in claim 1 wherein the support frame comprises a wheeled chassis whereas the lifting gear includes a hook on a cable engageable on the lifting gear engaging member on the discharge side of the wall forming structure and the means arranged to cause lifting and inward movement of the hinged side of the container a slopingly positioned forcibly reciprocable bar-like member in the form of a hydraulic ram, the cable from which the said hook-like member is suspended being passed over the guide pulleys and being connected to the said bar-like member whereby on extension of the bar-like member to engage a formation on the hinged side of the container for lifting and inward displacement of the said side of the container and tilting of the bottom to the steep inclined position by the hook, after engagement on the complementary member of the wall structure, is simultaneously raised.

7. The side discharge hopper as claimed in claim 1 wherein the upwardly protruding formations of the bottom provide arcuate slots centered on the axis of the hinged connection of the bottom to the wall forming structure and which slots are engaged by projections provided on the wall forming structure whereby the extent of separation between the unhinged sides of the bottom and the wall forming structure, when forming the discharge opening is limited.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,211,305 10/1965 Davenport et al. 214-64 XR 3,403,796 10/1968 Willett 214--64 XR ROBERT G. SHERIDAN, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 

